The Walking Dead Advance Preview: "Chokepoint" TV Geek Talk

In last week’s episode, Daryl (Norman Reedus), Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Dog rescued Henry (Matt Lintz) from the Whisperers after the teen’s attempt to retrieve Lydia (Cassady McClincy) resulted in his capture and almost death. Now, Alpha (Samantha Morton) has unleashed a pack of Whisperers to reclaim Lydia at any cost, tasking second-in-command Beta (Ryan Hurst) with hunting down the Hilltop group.

With Alpha being spotlighted in last week’s “Guardians,” I actually called it the “Alpha show,” as it provided a very intense, personal look into the current psyche of the Whisperers’ savage leader. On the flipside in Sunday’s episode, we now take a closer look at Alpha’s right-hand man, Beta, as he leads the charge to find Lydia and also likely retaliate for the attack on their camp. While there are similarities between Beta and the group’s leader whom he appears to deeply respect, some of the differences are also quite striking. We learn that Beta has a great deal of empathy and compassion (which I’m certain is completely foreign to Alpha) when he holds the hand of a dying comrade whom had been bitten in last week’s walker attack. “I’m about to become one of them,” the boy cries, to which Beta responds, “And you shall remain one of us.” (hinting that the boy will live on as part of the group’s walker herd).

However, the biggest differences in Beta’s methods are evident in the huge showdown with Daryl, which has been teased since the 9B trailer was released. Of course, with Beta’s large size, he throws Daryl around like he’s nothing. He’s also quite skilled with knives, but fortunately, Daryl is just as skilled at dodging his blows. So, while Beta may have Daryl beat in terms of muscle and size, I have to say he’s not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, and sometimes brains can be more important than brawn. Daryl outsmarts Beta 10-fold in one particular scene, and honestly, it made me laugh out loud.

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